Enter the Wilderness
You are an explorer
who comes not to conquer
but to exist
in agreement
with the wilderness.
Keep the portal open,
be ready to accept,
agree to embrace clouds
that drift through
the blue dome.
Welcome winter
dressed in tattered leaves.
Follow yourself into a cave
to lie dormant on cold stones.
These are elements of your survival.
Enter into communion
with untamed heart of wolf.
Sail on feathered arm
of wild goose.
Slip into cool seclusion
with minnow and tadpole.
Find the eye of sunflower
in owl’s amber vision.
Bring spirit with you
across the desert
to a shimmering mirage.
Laura Bayless lives in Carmel Valley, is the author of four collections of poetry. Her poems have appeared in many local and national publications. She has participated in seven Women’s Voices readings at the Carl Cherry Center in Carmel and multiple Women and Food poetry presentations on the Monterey Peninsula. She is an Associate Editor of the Monterey Poetry Review.
You are an explorer
who comes not to conquer
but to exist
in agreement
with the wilderness.
Keep the portal open,
be ready to accept,
agree to embrace clouds
that drift through
the blue dome.
Welcome winter
dressed in tattered leaves.
Follow yourself into a cave
to lie dormant on cold stones.
These are elements of your survival.
Enter into communion
with untamed heart of wolf.
Sail on feathered arm
of wild goose.
Slip into cool seclusion
with minnow and tadpole.
Find the eye of sunflower
in owl’s amber vision.
Bring spirit with you
across the desert
to a shimmering mirage.
Laura Bayless lives in Carmel Valley, is the author of four collections of poetry. Her poems have appeared in many local and national publications. She has participated in seven Women’s Voices readings at the Carl Cherry Center in Carmel and multiple Women and Food poetry presentations on the Monterey Peninsula. She is an Associate Editor of the Monterey Poetry Review.
